Hat forming system



Oct. 10, 1939. J 5 2,175,454

HAT FORMING SYSTEM Filed Dec. 8, 1958 ELECTRIC Sou not:

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Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HAT FORMING SYSTEM Application December 8, 1938, Serial No. 244,635

4 Claims.

This invention relates to hat forming systems and apparatus and has as its general object the maintaining a constant air volume through the hat former.

In hat forming systems of the type to which this invention relates, fur or other forming material is fed into the top of a former in which is included a perforated cone. A fan has its suction side connected to the underside of the cone and acts 0 to draw the fur onto the surface of the cone to build up a layer having the desired thickness. As the fur deposits upon the cone and fills up the perforations, it acts to close up the air inlet to the fan and to decrease the volume of air moved by the fan. To compensate for this action in the past, the fans have been designed to have a capacity for providing and have been operated to provide sufficient air volumes for forming the hat in the final forming stages with the result that in the earlier forming stages, much greater air volumes are provided.

This invention provides a hat former in which the air volume through the former is constant throughout the hat forming process. In one embodiment of the invention, spin inducing vanes in a vane controlled fan are adjusted by a velocity control in the air passage between the former and the fan, to cause the fan to draw a constant volume of air through the former. In the earlier forming stages, the tendency of the fan to move too much air, causes an increased air velocity past the control causing the control to adjust the vanes towards closed position. As the forming progresses, the tendency of the air volume to be reduced due to the deposit of the fur over the perforations in the forming cone, causes the control to act to adjust the vanes towards open position for maintaining a constant air volume.

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing of which Fig. 1 is a side elevation in section of a hat forming system embodying this invention, with the controls illustrated diagrammatically, and

Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing the circuit connections of the elements of the fan adjusting motor and of one of the relays of Fig. 1.

The conv-eyer 5 feeds fur or other hat material into the former 6. The cone 1 containing the perforations 8 is mounted in the base 9 of the former 6, over the air passage Ill connecting with the inlet H of the fan 12. The fan l2 except for its being a single inlet fan is similar to the fan illustrated and described in the United States Letters Patent N o. 1, 989,413 which issued .5 January 29, 1935, to H. F. Hagen. It contains in its inlet II, the spin inducing vanes l3 which correspond to the vanes iii of said patent. The vanes I3 are adapted to be adjusted towards closed position to decrease the volume of air handled by the fan and towards open position to 5 increase the volume of air handled by the fan. They are adjusted by mechanism similar to that of said patent, the rotary shaft l4 corresponding to the shaft 44 of the patent.

The motor 15 is adapted to rotate the shaft 0 M in one or the other direction toopen or close the vanes l3 and its direction of rotation is controlled by relays l6 and I1 which are in turn controlled by the diaphragm l8 connected by the pitot tubes l9 and 20 to the air passage Hi.

Due to the passage l0 having a constant area, air velocity changes in the passage conform to air volume changes, so that the diaphragm l 8 will move to the right (facing the drawing) when the air volume increases above that desired, and will 20 move to the left when the air volume decreases below that desired. When the volume is that desired, the diaphragm is in balance in midposition.

The diaphragm l8 carries the contact arm 2| 25 which is connected by the wire 22 to one terminal of the electric source 23. The relays l6 and I! are connected to the other terminal of the electric source 23 by the wire 24.

When the diaphragm l8 moves to the right indicating too great an air volume, the contact 21 on the arm 2|, moves against the contact 28 which is connected to the relay It by the wire 29. This causes the relay Hi to be energized through the closing of the circuit including the 5 electric source 23, the wire 22, the winding of the solenoid 30 (Fig. 2) within the relay IS, the wire 29, the contacts 28 and 21 and the wire 22. As shown by Fig. 2, the armature lead wires 25 are connected to the wires 29 and 24 so that the armature 3| of the motor I5 is connected to the source 23 at the same time as the solenoid 30. The solenoid 30 upon energization draws up its armatures 32 which are connected to the wires 25, causing the armatures to strike the contacts 45 33, connected to the lead wires 26 of the field winding 34 of the motor. Thus, the field winding and the armature of the motor are connected to the electric source and together in a direction to cause the motor to adjust the vanes 13 towards 50 closed position when the air volume increases above that desired in the passage ID to cause the diaphragm to move to the right to close the control contacts. When the volume has been sulficiently reduced by adjustment of the vanes I3,

2 the diaphragm l8 returns to mid-position and the circuit of the relay I6 is opened.

The elements of the relay I! are connected to the armature and field of the motor l in the same way as shown by Fig. 2 except that the field leads 26 are reversely connected to the armatures 33 so as to cause the motor l5 to rotate in the opposite direction, when the relay I! is energized, to that caused by the energization of the relay l6.

When the air volume in the passage H) decreases below that desired, the diaphragm I8 moves to the left causing the contacts 21 and 35 to meet causing the circuit including the contacts 21 and 35, the wire 36, the relay II, the wire 24, the electric source 23 and the wire 22 to be closed. causing the motor 5 to rotate in a direction to adjust the vanes I3 towards open position until the volume has been restored to normal at which time the diaphragm will again move to midposition to deenergize the relays and through them the vane adjusting motor l5.

The motor 3'! driving the fans [2 is preferably a constant speed motor requiring no adjustment.

The portion of the air passage just below the cone 1, is preferably in the form of a hyperbolic elbow for providing least resistance to the turning of the air from the cone to the fan.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described for the purpose of illustration, it should be understood that other apparatus and arrangements of apparatus might be suggested by those skilled in the art without departure from the essence of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a hat forming system having a perforated hat forming cone and means for supplying hat forming material upon said cone, a centrifugal fan, means forming an air passage connecting the base of said cone and the inlet of said fan, means for varying the volume of air moved by said fan, and means responsive to changes in the volume of air passing through said passage for adjusting said control means to maintain a constant volume through said passage.

2. In a hat forming system having a perforated hat forming cone and means for supplying hat forming material upon said cone, a centrifugal fan, means forming an air passage connecting the base of said cone and the inlet of said fan, volume control means in the inlet to said fan, and means responsive to changes in the volume of air passing through said passage for adjusting said control means to maintain a constant volume through said passage.

3. In a hat forming system having a perforated hat forming cone and means for supplying hat forming material upon said cone, a centrifugal fan, means forming an air passage connecting the base of said cone and the inlet of said fan,

spin inducing vanes in the inlet to said fan, and means responsive to changes in the volume of air passing through said passage for adjusting said vanes to maintain a constant volume through said passage.

4. In a hat forming system having a perforated hat forming cone and means for supplying hat forming material upon said cone, a centrifugal ian, means including a hyperbolic elbow forming an air passage connecting the base of said cone and the inlet of said fan, spin inducing vanes in the inlet to said fan, and means responsive to changes in the volume of air passing through said passage for adjusting said vanes to maintain a constant volume through said passage.

JOHN CASSIE. 

